A Murder of Crows
by Grump and Dork
Summary: Tachibana Mari and Kimura Amaya have been together since kindergarten due to fate. Now their fate has tied them to the Karasuno High Boy's volleyball club where they've met scary and kind upperclassmen and two boys who might twist themselves into their fate. Nishinoya/OC. Tanaka/OC.
1. The New Crows

**Title:** A Murder of Crows.

**Author:** Grump and Dork.

**Summary:** Tachibana Mari and Kimura Amaya have been together since kindergarten due to fate. Now their fate has tied them to the Karasuno High Boy's volleyball club where they've met scary and kind upperclassmen and two boys who might twist themselves into their fate. Nishinoya/OC. Tanaka/OC.

**Pairings:** NoyaMari, TanAma.

**AN:** The main characters of this story are original characters, if this is not your cup of tea. Then you won't like this story.

**Disclaimer:** We don't own Haikyuu! All rights reserved to Haruichi Furudate,Tachibana Mari belongs to Irissennii (dork) and Kimura Amaya belongs to Firead (Grump).

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><p><strong>A MURDER OF CROWS<strong>

**CHAPTER I**

**Arc: Entrance Ceremony**

**The New Crows**

**.  
>.<strong>

The sun's rising on the horizon was not what woke Amaya from her sleep, but rather an alarm she had set for herself to get up early and make lunches and breakfast for her family. Now with her parents off to work in Tokyo and her little ankle biters of siblings waking up and demanding breakfast, she was busy preparing her own lunch. She still wore her pajamas, not wanting to get her brand new uniform dirty, especially since she was rather fond of it; blazers and ribbons beat sailor suits any day.

As she closed the lid of her own bento and tied it securely in a handkerchief, the doorbell rang. Amaya quickly tossed the pale blue apron she wore off and went to the door. However, she was a tad too late as her twin brothers, Shinto and Ganta age ten, opened the door and tackled the person there, followed by six year old Mei. Amaya's childhood friend, aka pseudo-sibling for the little ankle biters, let out a loud huff as they had decided to use her as their own personal, human monkey bar.

Amaya sighed at their antics and quickly pulled them off of the smaller girl whom she knew was there. "Sorry about that, Mari." Amaya stated, holding Shinto and Ganta in one hand each as Mei ran back to the kitchen to finish her breakfast. Amaya placed her brothers down and shooed them off. "What are you doing here so early?"

Mari shrugged it off. "I don't mind Amaya-chan," she said stepping inside looking a bit confused. "And what do you mean early, we are running late."

Amaya let her in and glanced at the clock. "Doesn't school start at nine?" she asked, showing that it was still just a little after eight.

Mari's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. "Yes," she said slowly. "But not one of the little terrors is dressed yet and don't you have to bring them to school?" the peach brown haired girl trailed off. Getting them dressed was a right out nightmare and could take hours. "Don't they have their own entrance ceremony to?"

Amaya grounded her teeth at the realization. "Shove your food down your throats and get dressed." she shouted at her siblings, not intending to be mean but to show that she was having none of their complaints. "Ganta, Shinto, get dressed, Mei you too." She looked at her other sister, a second year in middle school.

"Feel free to go whenever you want, Iori." Amaya told her calmly, knowing that she would make it on time. "Mari, I'll be down in a minute." she glanced back at her childhood friend and ran up her stairs to get dressed.

"Do you need help!" Mari shouted up after her.

"Stay out of the door way." Amaya suggested. Soon after she stated that, Shinto and Ganta bolted out of the house with Mei on their heels.

"Got it," Mari muttered, narrowly evading the stampede of little people as she followed Amaya up to her room. She was well aware that her friend didn't like being helped, but Mari was stubborn that way. Mari knocked on the door.

"Come in." Amaya said, pulling on her skirt and ignoring her unbuttoned shirt. Her black hair was still loose and tangled from her slumber. She started to button up the shirt as she looked around for her socks.

"I'm coming in," Mari softly said, closing the door behind her. "You suck," she deadpanned, her eyes running over Amaya's messy hair. "Absolutely hopeless," she added.

"How am I hopeless?" Amaya asked confused.

"Your hair," Mari pointed at the tangled mob on top of her head.

"I don't have time for that." Amaya said, "I'll braid it later and it will hide the tangles."

Mari crossed her arms and shook her head.

"What?" Amaya asked.

"Seriously," Mari asked, feeling a bit hurt. She should have seen this coming though, Amaya would never ask anyone for help.

"Did I say something wrong?" Amaya asked, oblivious to her friend's dismay.

She didn't respond to her question and walked up to Amaya's dresser to grab her brush. "You suck at braiding hair," Mari said frankly.

"I'm decent enough." Amaya said, though she hated to admit that Iori was the one who usually did it in the morning while she ate.

"Not bad?" Mari looked at her skeptically. "This coming from the girl who couldn't even do a proper high ponytail back in middle school," she pointing out, being well aware she was entering dangerous grounds by mentioning the dreaded middle school debacle. Amaya's face distorted into an ugly morph of dislike and 'how-dare-you-mention-that'. "Don't mope," Mari chided.

"Middle school was horrible." Amaya said simply. Her uniform was on and she looked at the clock. "If we leave now we got plenty of time to goof off before the ceremony."

Mari shook her head. "Not so fast missy," she got on her knees behind Amaya and started brushing her hair. "This will be over in a flash."

Amaya grumbled but decided not to deny Mari's wishes. That and that if she got up now she would be in far greater pain at the tug of her hair. Mari giggled, as she nimbly moved her fingers through Amaya's tresses until it was a pretty braid. "I have something for you," she said. "Since it our anniversary!"

Mari hadn't bothered using wrapping paper, it was a waste of paper and Amaya's bedroom was messy enough as it was. "Happy tenth year anniversary," she cheered, handing her a checkered bandana. "With our first day of high school, we officially have known each other for ten years."

Amaya took it from her hands and held it up. "This is so cool!" she said, giving her friend a one armed hug. "Now I feel bad for not getting you anything..."  
>"I'll take a lunch for trade," Mari said. "Mom made me health freak lunch again," the smaller girls face twisted in disgust.<p>

"Deal." Amaya said, determined to keep an eye on her weight this school year. Making kids' lunches always added extra carbs to her own.

Mari stared with great expectation in her direction. "Well?" she asked after a while of silence.

"Well what?" Amaya asked.

"Lunch," Mari cried out. "I don't care if we need to run, I don't want to eat another tofu fillet, ever!"

"It's in my bag." Amaya said. "We'll swap at school."

"Do you honestly like my mom's lunches?" Mari asked, moving towards the bedroom door.

"No." Amaya said. She walked out of her room, grabbing her bag. Mari snorted at her blunt response. Amaya chuckled and pulled out her shoes. "Let's go." she said, opening her front door.

Mari bit her lip, "I didn't take of my shoes," she said ashamed.

"My grandpa didn't see you so it's okay." Amaya said.

"Nobody can stay angry at this face though," Mari pouted, gesturing at her face. "And your grandfather loves me!"

"I wish all of his love for me could go to you." Amaya said dryly.

Mari's face relaxed instantly. "No thank you!"

Amaya grinned and closed her door, locking it securely. She walked through the garden with Mari and out of the gate. "At least the walk from here is close." she said.

Mari agreed, before looking back at the Kimura family home . "Even after the ten years the size still baffles me."

"Try having to clean it." Amaya said, glancing at the traditional Japanese home.

"Cleaning my house is work enough," Mari huffed. "My parents always make Yuzu-nii and me clean the gyms to."

"I bribe the little ankle biters." Amaya grinned. "They love racing down the halls with the rags and brooms."

Mari grumbled, she didn't have that advantage. Unlike Amaya's family, the Tachibana's were with less people and in their own way less conventional. Mari's older brother Yuzuru was out of her father's previous marriage and had been adopted by her mother soon after she was born.

"Though Iori still dislikes people so I can't force her to do chores." she sighed slightly. "But the little ones are eager. I bet they would clean your house for a handful of granola."

"Unfair," Mari shouted annoyed.

"Wanna borrow them?" Amaya joked.

"They insist on using me as a human monkey bar," Mari reminded her.

"Because you can hold their weight better than I can." Amaya said.

"I'm an athlete after all," the girl said proudly.

"I'm a lazy bum." Amaya said proudly.

Mari rolled her eyes, her hands trailing of the scratch her arms. "I hate wearing blazers," she whined. "And you aren't even wearing the 'proper' uniform."

Amaya glanced down at her own uniform. The blazer was open and her shirt untucked. The skirt was raised up and her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, red ribbon a mess. Mari on the other hand looked like a picture out of a magazine.

"Screw this," she muttered annoyed, yanking of her blazer.

Amaya laughed. "The sweater vest fits you better anyway." she said.

"I'd roll up my sleeves if it wasn't so chilly," Mari loosened her ribbon.

"It's chilly?" Amaya asked, being warm blooded and practically a walking space heater.

"Typical," Mari said, being used to her antics by now.

Amaya shoved her hands in her pockets and noticed the school gates. "We're here." she said.

Mari took in the building, it looked clean and modern. When she was younger she had often walked past this building, but she had never imagined enrolling in the local high school. "Karasuno High School." She said.

"Being first years here feels weird." Amaya said, looking up at the building. There was no response, Mari was greedily reading the pamphlet her mother had put in her bag last night.

"Karasuno High School," she repeated. "Home of the crows, used to be famous for their boys volleyball club. Have one of the better gymnastic teams of the Miyagi prefecture," she read out loud.

"What's their choir club like." Amaya asked, leaning over her friends' shoulder to read it.

"You'd stick out as a sore thump," Mari said, showing her a picture of the choir club.

Amaya made a disgruntled noise. "But singing is fun." she sighed.

Mari sighed, she knew how much her friend loved singing. "Maybe you can convince some poor schmucks to start a band with you or something," she patted Amaya's back, trying to cheer her up.

"I have no interest in joining a band." Amaya said bluntly.

Mari took Amaya's hand. "Just a suggestion," she said kindly. "Now, this is the first step of our high school life."

Amaya held her hand back. "Let's hope we get into the same class together." she said.

"Fate has this nasty way of twisting itself in all kinds of impossible turns," Mari said seriously.

"So of course will be in the same class," she said breaking out in a wide smile. It was fate after all.

"It is fate." Amaya smirked.

"Fate," Mari agreed.

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><p><strong>Hii, thank you for reading our fanfic A Murder of Crows, we hoped you liked it . Please tell us what you think. If you want to know more about Mari and Amaya on our profile page you can find more information about them.<strong>

**- Grump and Dork.**


	2. Mazes and Mix-ups

**A MURDER OF CROWS**

**CHAPTER II**

**Arc: Entrance Ceremony**

**Mazes and Mix-ups**

**.  
><strong>**.**

Every step Mari came closer to the noticeboard, her confidence in the chances of Amaya and her being in the same class started to falter. It was true the girls had been in the same class for the last nine years, but high school was different and Amaya was a genius. A lazy genius, but she was one nonetheless and the only reason she would end up in the same class as Mari was if she messed up her entrance exam. Amaya still had her hands in her pockets, casually walking up to the board with her friend. With her eyesight she couldn't see them board clearly, and not feeling like getting out her glasses she looked at Mari. "Do you see our names?" she asked. "I can't see worth shit."

"Being lazy again," Mari chided, but she looked it up anyway. Carefully her eyes went over the lists, trying to find their names.

Amaya grinned. "It's easier this way." she said, glancing around at the other freshman.

Mari snorted. "You always say that." When she finally found Amaya's name in the same row as her she turned around and glared at her. "You messed up on purpose, right?" she asked suspiciously.

Amaya stared at her best friend and gave her a cocky grin. "Yup." she said bluntly.

Mari sighed in defeat. "Class 1-3," she said, poking Amaya's side. With the years the shorter girl had learned that Amaya would always get her own way when it came to things like this. Though honestly Mari was slightly happy about this turn of events to, because she wanted to be in the same class as her friend. "You win, I give up."

Amaya chuckled and wrapped her arm around Mari's shoulder. "We found our class so let's find our lockers." she said. "After that is the damn opening ceremony."

Mari looked up at her. "Can you remind me later that I need to go by the Foothill store?" she asked, walking to the entrance of the school.

"Sure." Amaya said, heading towards the shoes boxes. "What do you need to get?"

"My indoor slippers are a size to big," Mari admitted sheepishly.

"You might grow into them." Amaya said. "Iori fit into my old uniform perfectly."

Mari raised an eyebrow. "Amaya my feet have stopped growing, I have had the same size for two years now," she smirked. "Not all of us have big feet."

"I do not have big feet!" Amaya said, offended. She trudged off to the box. "I hope you get a top box." she shouted immaturely.

Mari pouted. "Ama-chan is so mean," she shouted.

"Don't call me Ama!" Amaya protested, playfully pulling at her friend's cheeks. "It's A-Ma-Ya."

Mari flailed her arms around wildly. "Let me go," she yelped.

Amaya chuckled and released her. "Come on, we have to find our lockers so we can get the damn entrance ceremony over with."

Mari rubbed her sore cheek. "Yuzu-nii said he took a nap during his first high school entrance ceremony," she said enviously.

"That sounds nice." Amaya said honestly. She found her locker easily and exchanged her outdoor shoes for the indoor slippers.

Mari didn't wait for her and went ahead to look her own locker, it was times like this she blessed the alphabetical system. "You have got to be kidding me," she growled annoyed. Tachibana Mari, who was only one-hundred and fifty centimeters tall had gotten a top locker.

Amaya came up behind her. "Need me to get it for you?" Amaya teased.

She glared at Amaya. "No thank you," Mari snipped, opening the locker and putting her outdoor shoes inside it. She took her indoor shoes out of her bag and slipped them on.

Amaya chuckled and waited for her to finish. "A lot of the first years are rowdy." she mentioned, glancing at a couple of boys who were randomly falling into tears.

Mari was confused. "Why would they cry?" she asked. "It's as if high school is mandatory."

Amaya shrugged. "I want to cry cause I am here." she said.

Mari slapped her shoulder. "Don't complain, it will be fun."

"I'll believe it when I see it." Amaya chided. She started to walk towards the gym where the opening ceremony was to be held. "I can't believe we have to separate for this." Mari hugged Amaya's arm. Amaya smiled at her friend.

"Don't worry my little fledgling, it will only be for a short time." she said.

"I think I'll survive," Mari said dryly. "I'm just not happy that I'm being put between two boys."

"If they do anything strange, let me know and I'll kill them." Amaya told her reassuringly. Even though she was nothing but scary eyes and a bad bark. Mari shook her head shaking with laughter, she separated from Amaya to look for her place in the line. It did suck that they stood so far apart, but hopefully the ceremony wouldn't drag on. Amaya took her spot and stood casually. She glanced up at the vice-principal, only to burn into her memory someone she planned to avoid for three years. She bit back a laugh as she noticed that he, in fact, was wearing a wig. In the meantime Mari had found her spot and she had a such lovely outlook, the backside of the giant in front of her was obstructing her view. Amaya glanced around and managed to find Mari's peach brown hair. Despite her height, Mari stood out like a sore thumb to Amaya who had always been keeping an eye on her childhood friend. What also caught her eye was the sharp stare of a bald kid not too far behind her.

.

.

The ceremony had been dreadful and more boring Mari had ever remembered one to be. It kept dragging on for what seemed like hours, even though they had probably only been standing there for about one hour and she had only caught flashes from the stage so far. Only when the boy in front of her moved, which was surprisingly rare. Amaya was about to fall asleep where she stood. Only two people in the freshman class had caught her attention and neither of them proved to be good entertainment for the dreadful ceremony. She glanced at Mari who was struggling with the girth of the boy in front of her. Mari ran up the moment the principal had spoken the liberating words. "My future in this school will be a giant hell," she whined, hiding her face in Amaya's stomach.

Amaya wrapped her arms around her friend. "And why do you say that?" she asked, letting out a small yawn.

"The giant standing in front of me," she snapped.

"Well it's his own fault for being that big." Amaya said, patting her head. She kept her hands firmly clutched around her stomach. "Well you can always make them get below your line of sight." Amaya suggested.

Her grip on Amaya loosened. It was true her face had a certain affect on people, since she was someone that could be considered cute. "I guess so?" Mari said hesitatingly.

"I mean with your gymnastic skills, kicking them to their knees should be a breeze." Amaya grinned.

"Oh," Mari giggled. "I thought you meant using my appearance to my advantage not getting violent."

"But then they fall in love with you and that's even more problems." Amaya said.

Having boys falling in love with her that fast was highly unlikely, it was almost ridiculous and Mari started laughing loudly at the idea. "Don't tell me you are serious," she asked, putting a lock of hair behind her ear.

Amaya shrugged. "You're cute and these boys are in puberty, you never know." she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

She took Amaya's hand. "Let's go, I think listing to that speech has infected you head," Mari said, dragging her away to their homeroom.

"I wasn't even listening." Amaya said. "I was too busy trying not to laugh at the vice-principal's wig."

Mari snorted. "So it was a wig," she said in triumph, she hadn't been able to see it properly. But the vice-principal was definitely wearing something that look like a dead rat on top of his head.

Amaya nodded with a snicker. "I swear if he sweated even a bit more it would have fallen right off." she said, exiting the gym.

"Imagine having that landing on top of your head," Mari said in disgust, she adjusted her bag over her shoulder. "I swear tomorrow I am bringing a backpack."

"You'll get mistaken for a grade schooler again." Amaya reminded her, carrying hers over her shoulder as well.

"I don't care," Mari scowled, ignoring Amaya comment. Being mistaken for a grade schooler was embarrassing, but backpacks were much more practical. "I hate shoulder bags."

"I find them useful." Amaya said. "Good reason to leave heavy stuff at home."

They walked the rest of their way in a comfortable silence, well Amaya did complain a little about the stairs they had to take. Amaya sighed when they finally got to the classroom.

Several students were already there, in their seats or talking with friends. The seating chart was drawn on the chalkboard where they could easily find their seats. Amaya glanced at it, spotting her seat immediately. She grinned. "You're stuck behind me." she told Mari.

"I don't mind," Mari said, ignoring the stares of her classmates. She put her bag on her table. "It's next to a window."

Amaya sat her in chair backwards and rested her head on Mari's desk. "I can stare off into space like this." she said gleefully.

"Just don't distract me," Mari said. "And let me borrow your notes a lot!" she added, resting her arms on top of desk.

"I will I will." Amaya promised. "But take my side no matter what sensei says."

Mari sighed, she hated it when teachers judged a student by their looks. "You know I will," she said. "Screw the judgmental idiots, but who knows we might get a decent homeroom teacher."

Amaya rested her hand in her chin. "Either way it's gonna be a pain with a vice principal like we have." she said.

Mari flicked her nose. "You were the one who wanted to attend Karasuno, so suck it up."

Amaya held her stinging nose, cringing at the pain. "I wanted to for the uniforms." she said. There was no response, Mari zipped open her bag and took the pamphlet out again.

Amaya glanced at it. "What's that?" she asked.

"The pamphlet I was reading earlier," Mari responded, folding the piece of paper open.

"What are you looking for?" she asked, staring at the back of it.

"Just passing time," she responded, keeping her eyes firmly planted on the brochure. "It's always useful to learn more." In reality Mari was feeling extremely uncomfortable, because for some reason people were staring at them. It was middle school all over again.

Amaya glanced around the classroom. As soon as her sharp eyes caught the eyes of another person, they glanced away nervously. She had always had a sharp stare and could be considered scary at times in appearance. But making people nervous like this, was something she found easy to do. Her little fledglings situation was bit different, Mari often attracted unwanted attention because she was cute. She squirmed a bit under the few brave people who kept staring at them. Amaya scowled slightly and purposefully started to glare at people. She disliked how they were making Mari uncomfortable.

"I promised my mother to join the gymnastics club," Mari said quickly.

"Are you happy about that?" Amaya asked, knowing her friend had enjoyed being a part of the art club when she was in middle school.

For the first time since they had taken place at their desks, blue eyes met brown. "I learned to love drawing," Mari said. "But I think I'm the happiest when I am doing routines on different apparatus." A genuine smile graced her lips.

Amaya gave her a small smirk. "As long as you are happy with the decision I won't complain." she said.

Mari nodded happily. "But I 'm telling you though, you won't be happy in the choir."

"Probably not, but it's worth a try." Amaya stated. She turned around as the teacher entered the classroom.

.

.

A yawn escaped Mari's lips, stretching her arms. The girl directed her attention on the folder of paper that had been disrupted during their first homeroom class. "Sensei doesn't seem so bad," Mari said, looking through the papers.

"Why are there so many textbooks in high school." Amaya sighed, flipping through a couple of them without really looking at what was inside. "So glad I did not go into a college prep course."

"I think the workload isn't that different," Mari fought back a yawn. "I mean it's not impossible to attend university, even if we are in a normal class right?" she mentally cheered when she had found the paper she was looking for, club application forms.

"That's true." Amaya said. "But I have no plans for college." she pulled out her own form and quickly started to fill it out.

"I think I have a good chance of getting a scholarship for one but based on sports instead of academics," Mari said, writing down her name.

"Scholarships are needed if you want to go to college." Amaya stated. "No way my family can afford it right now."

"I only have a brother," Mari reminded her. "You have four siblings."

"Yup." Amaya said. "And soon the twins will need middle school uniforms." she said.

"And school policy also forbids students from having part-time jobs," Mari sighed, which was annoying because that meant her mother couldn't pay her for teaching the younger students during gymnastic classes.

Amaya nodded. "Getting pocket money is going to be hard." she stated.

Mari put her pen down and folded her hands. "About tonight, I need to go home for dinner first but I will come by soon after," she pouted. "Save me decent food, please!"

Amaya let out a laugh. "Don't worry, I'll save plenty for you." she grinned. "I'm making curry tonight."

"I'll die if I have to eat more tofu and guess what we are eating tonight," Mari groaned.

Amaya pretended to think seriously for a few seconds. "Takoyaki." she said with a serious expression.

The ironic remark was ignored by the frustrated girl. "Soba soup with spinach and tofu," Mari huffed, slamming her little fists against her desk.

"Do you want me to put sesame seeds in the rice for the curry?" Amaya asked, seeing the smoke that was seething from her friend's ears.

"Sure, whatever," she hummed. "Just not tofu," Mari begged.

"We don't eat tofu." Amaya reminded her. She stood up and collected her things. "We should probably get to the club rooms to turn in our slips."

Mari followed her example and gathered up her stuff in her bag. "Why are you so eager to join that snooty looking club anyways," she sighed.

"I just want a place to sing without being disturbed." Amaya admitted with a shrug. "I don't like people staring."

The two girl entered the crowed hallway. "I can't argue with that," Mari said, trying to push her way through the crowd.

Amaya nodded and gave Mari a rough pat on the head. "See you later." she said. She disappeared into the crowd, clutching the club form tightly.

In situations like this Mari's height really came to her advantage, because she could easily weave her way through the crowd. Admittedly she had lost her way a few times, the halls of Karasuno looked like a maze to her and then she had to go back to her shoes. "Finally," Mari let out a relieved sigh seeing the door of the many people were around this particular gym. A few passing through but not a large crowd. Most of them were going after the much larger clubs such as basketball, baseball and soccer. But the sounds of teenage girls could be clearly heard from the other side of the door, including the sounds of some people practicing. Mari reached out for the gym door to open it, she peeked her head inside of the gym. "Hello?" she greeted, a group of give girls stared back at her.

"You are late," a black haired girl said snidely.

Several girls, ones who appeared to be freshman shuffled where they stood in a line, shoulder to shoulder and with their hands folded in front of them. A girl with light brown hair put her hands up. "Now now, no need to be so harsh." she said in a gentle tone. The black haired girl was about to open her mouth again but was stopped by the captain.

"She is not late Momo," she chided. "Welcome to the gymnastics club, I am the captain Ishimoto Hiyori," the captain said kindly. "Come in please, Tachibana-san."

Mari's eyes widened. "How do you know my name?" she asked confused, quickly taking place next to the other girls.

The chestnut haired girl who had spoken softly before smiled at Mari. "We go to your mother's gym." she said. "Your mother informed us that you would be coming." A couple of the girl's glanced at Mari, some with envy and others with admiration.

Mari looked down frustrated, she wanted to strangle her mother for doing this. The last thing she wanted was preferential treatment. She bowed for her future teammates. "It's nice to meet you senpai, my name is Tachibana Mari. I apologize for being late, it not happen again!"

The chestnut haired girl smiled and patted her head. "The halls are always crowded at this time." she said, "It's not surprising for many freshman to get lost."

Momo scowled. "Don't coddle her Anzu, she was late and needs to face the consequences." Mari relaxed, the black haired girl had a mean side to her but at least she was honest.

The girl sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Good luck." she told them.

.

.

Meanwhile Amaya was getting hopelessly lost in the hallways. From word of mouth the choir club was on the third floor which made her internally scream. She had found yet another reason why joining such a snobby club was a bad idea. She glared at her own club form, not paying attention to where she was going or whom she bumped into. The first boy that had gotten her attention during the entrance ceremony was trying to make his way though of the crowed hallway quickly, but in the process he kept bumping into people. "Sorry," he apologized, turning around to face the person he had bumped into. However in the process he ended up slamming against Amaya's arm.

Amaya nearly lost her balance when she felt the sudden bump into her arm. The sudden impact caused her to lose her grip on her club form and having it fall to the ground where it was stepped on. She glanced up at the boy who had bumped into her, attempting to apologize. He turned around around, not quite meeting her gaze. "I'm sorry," he muttered, bending down to collect the papers that had fallen on the floor. Amaya barely managed to tell him that it was okay as he ran through the crowd. She hadn't gotten a good look at his face but based off his structure, it was probably the guy who was standing a few spots back from Mari at the opening ceremony. She shrugged it off and looked at her club form to make sure that it wasn't too damaged. She stared at it for several seconds before realizing that it was definitely not her form.

Amaya let out an audible grumble and turned on her heel to go after the guy who had accidentally switched their forms. However, in the thick crowd she had lost track of him. Not sure where to look, she glanced over his club form. If he was going to be joining a club, he was probably going there.

In the box that stated which club he was hoping to join, and in rather crude writing, was the words Boy's Volleyball club. Amaya thought for a second, it wasn't that bad getting to see athletic boys when she switched the paper. She grinned and started to make her way towards to gyms where the sports clubs practiced. She could probably meet up with Mari quicker this way too.

Upon arrival, Amaya glanced around for where the boy's club could be. She was stopped by a teacher once who was curious to know why she was there. When she asked for the boy's volleyball team, he motioned to a closed gym that was further back than the rest. Amaya shoved her hands in the pockets of her blazer and walked over to it. From the outside, she could hear loud voices.

.

.

The coach looked up from the paper to the boy. "This isn't the choir club," he looked back at the paper. "Kimura Amaya?" he raised his eyebrow. "Boy are you trying to tell me your parents gave you a girls name."

Amaya put her ear to the door and chuckled. The guy inside had to be completely embarrassed based off his shouts of protests against that accusation. She looked at the name on the club form in her hand. 'Tanaka Ryuunosuke' was what it read, a very cool name for a guy who was now thought to be called Amaya. She continued to smile to herself and waited for a good time to go in, and after she had a bit of fun.

* * *

><p><strong>Yush, we posted the second chapter today. Normally you can except us to update weekly, there will be a chapter posted either sunday or monday. Thank you very much for the kind reviews, enjoy the second chapter and please tell us what you think.<strong>

**- Grump and Dork.**


	3. Friendly Banters and Boys

**MURDER OF CROWS**

**CHAPTER III  
><strong>

**Arc: Entrance Ceremony.**

**Friendly Banters and Boys**

**.**

**.**

Amaya waited a few more minutes before deciding that she had had enough entertainment and opened the door. Heads turned at the sound, some only glances and some giving their full attention. Amaya placed her hand on the door frame and glanced towards a man holding several sheets of paper. He was a teenager but based off his height and how the other members stood around him, he was most likely the captain and a third year. "Is a guy named Tanaka Ryuunosuke or whatever here?" she asked clearly.

Tanaka Ryuuunosuke slowly put up his hand, he had flushed cheeks. "Here," he muttered nervously. He was a slightly taller than average teen with a buzz cut and sharp eyes.

Amaya walked over to him without any hesitation and held up the form. "Our forms got switched when we bumped each other earlier." she said, staring him straight in the face. The boy just kept staring at her with a weird expression on his face, like he had never seen anything quite like her. He nodded numbly.

"You are Kimura Amaya then?" The captain asked. Amaya looked up at him and nodded. "This is yours than." he handed Amaya her club form and took Tanaka's from her hands; Amaya glanced back at Tanaka who was still staring at her with the distorted face.

Grinning, Amaya flicked his forehead. "Your face will get stuck like that if you keep it up." she said. Tanaka's mouth fell open, gaping like a fish when he watched her retreating back leave the gym. Amaya waved bye to him without looking and closed the door.

After turning in her club form she waited at the front gates for Mari to show up. She started to wonder if they were going to make her practice on the first day. When Mari came into view she saw that a giant thundercloud was hanging over the girl's head. Amaya noticed instantly saw her friend and frowned. "What happened?" she asked.

Mari crossed her arms. "My mother happened," she growled. "For some reason she thought it was a good idea to let my upperclassmen know who I was."

"Oh fun." Amaya said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Judging by Mari's expression it was anything but fun to her. "Some of the girls are students of my mom," she groaned. "Why did she had to do this? I don't want special treatment."

Amaya pat her on the back. "It will work out somehow." she said.

Mari's mood didn't improve at all, she had been looking forward a lot to joining the gymnastics club and it was all ruined.

Amaya sighed and gripped her shoulder. "Why don't we go to Foothill Store and get your shoes." she said

"I guess," Mari sulked.

"I met someone funny" Amaya said. She got no response from her usually bubbly friend. Mari dragged herself forward, her whole high school experience was ruined.

Amaya scowled. "If you don't cheer up no curry." Amaya threatened.

"Shut up," Mari snapped, getting angry at Amaya. "I can sulk all I want, that experience was not fun. People judging me, thinking I am something special. They gave me a spot on the official team without even testing out my abilities!"

"So are you just going to whine about it or are you going to show them that you deserve that spot?" Amaya asked harshly. "If they go to your mom's gym, they probably know your ability because they've seen you in action. Don't assume they don't."

"I have never seen those girls in my life," Mari gritted her teeth. "And you know the rules, people can't enter the gym when a group is already training."

"I've watched you from windows." Amaya said. "And your mom video tapes you." Mari looked away, unhappy. "The more you whine, the less happy you will be." Amaya said. "Suck it up and show off."

Her mood didn't improve; being told of by Amaya was not fun and especially when deep down the budding gymnast knew she was right. Mari crossed her arms.

Amaya sighed and patted her back again. "How about tonight we do what I promised last year." she offered.

Mari perked up at hearing that. "You mean it!" she said, grabbing Amaya's arm. "You'll really do it, why know. You didn't seem very enthusiastic about it, when you promised me," She was wriggling on the soles of her shoes.

"If it will cheer you up, I'm willing to do it." Amaya said with a grin.

"You'd even take my mothers wrath on for me," she asked with wide eyes. "That's real friendship."

"Isn't your mom half scared of me anyway?" Amaya asked, joking.

Mari snorted. "My mother loves you, you know that."

"Oh right, Yuzu-nii is the one I can scare." Amaya said.  
>"My older brother is pathetic," Mari sighed, switching her bag to her other shoulder.<p>

"Can't argue with that." Amaya said. "The store is right there." she said.

She quickly hid behind Amaya. "You know some of the upperclassmen told me that the clerk is kind of scary," Mari whispered, her tiny fists grabbing the fabric of the other girl's blazer.

"I won't be out-scared." Amaya said bluntly. She walked in without any fear and glanced at the man at the counter. He had died brown hair that was slicked back, held down by a band and was smoking; his eyes glared like he expected them to be loud. Amaya sent her glare and walked to the back where the shoes were.

Mari followed her inside like a little puppy. "So stubborn," she muttered.

Amaya smiled. "That's my good point." she said.

"I don't think that's something to be proud about," Mari said, grabbing a pair of slippers in her size.

"It's not?" Amaya asked curious.

Mari held up her hand, not caring that she was attracting attention. "Ah, my name is Kimura Amaya-san and my good point: I have lots in common with a mule, like being stubborn," she said dryly, arching her left eyebrow.  
>Amaya grabbed Mari's cheeks tightly and pulled. "I'll have you know that I'm a fucking crow." she hissed. "And mules are actually extremely intelligent and considered better than both horses and donkey's in strength, intelligence and pedigree."<p>

"Again with my cheeks," Mari whined, struggling against her firm hold.

"They are the easiest to pull cause they are so pudgy." Amaya smirked.

Mari kicked Amaya's shins. "Who are you calling pudgy, pudgy!" she huffed.

Amaya flinched and let her go. "I am not pudgy!" Amaya shouted. The clerk yelled at them to shut up and Amaya grumbled.

At this the smaller girls childish side kicked in. "You made him angry at us," Mari pouted. "What if he refuses to sell me these shoes now," she asked holding up her white slippers.

"I need them you know, I can't walk a whole year with cotton balls in my shoes." Mari whined.

"If we're paying for them there is no way he'd reject your getting them." Amaya said obviously. Mari said nothing and walked to the clerk, the money ready in her hand. Amaya glanced around and decided to buy some candy for her siblings, knowing it would keep them out of her room with Mari over.

"Gonna bride them?" Mari asked looking over her shoulder as she paid for item.

"Yes," Amaya said. After Mari was done, she paid for the candy and they left the store. "You have to go home first right?"

She rolled her eyes. "I told you this morning, pudgy."

Amaya kicked her in the butt. "I'll give you extra fat for that one." she threatened.

"I don't get fat though," Mari smiled.

"Thunder thighs." Amaya stated bluntly. Mari flushed pink, but kept her mouth tight shut. They weren't fat, but womanly curves!

Amaya smirked and continued to walk. "I'll have the curry ready for when you get to my place." she said.

"Don't act so smug," Mari said, following behind her. "I could cook to, if I wanted."

"You set a stove on fire." Amaya said.

"Shut up, it was my first time!" Mari shouted. She poked Amaya in the side, before taking a run for it.

Amaya flinched and attempted to reach for her friend but gave up when she was out of reach. "You know very well I'm not running after you!" she shouted.

Mari slowed down her pace and turned around, she kept walking backwards. "That's the reason I started to run silly."

"Athletes suck!" Amaya shouted. "Don't get to my place any later than seven!"

"Got it," Mari saluted her. "Later," she shouted, taking a right turn into her own street. Amaya waved good bye and went to her own house. She met with a bombardment of little kids and quickly started to prepare dinner for the night.

Unlike Amaya's house, Mari's family lived in fairly modern house, with a giant gym in their backyard instead of an actually garden. Mari liked the modern decoration, since they still had the traditional rooms and unlike her friend she had a, real and fluffy bed. "I'm home!" the girl shouted loudly, kicking out her shoes. She put her bag on the bottom of the stairs. "Anyone home?"

"Everyone is home my loud, little sister," Yuzuru's teasing voice came from upstairs, the older boy was sitting on top of the stairs. Mari huffed, muttering something about stupid big brothers. "So," he drawled. "How was your first day as a high school student?" he asked.

Mari's face darken at the question. "Fine," she said.

Yuzuru sighed, he could read his sisters reactions like the back of his hand. "What did mom do now?"

"She told the captain of the gymnastics club about me," Mari pouted, running up to her big brother. She took place on his lap, because she knew unlike Amaya he would let her rant and just agree.

Yuzuru sighed. "You know I really don't fancy being in the house when you explode and mom just wanted to help you," Mari frowned, why wasn't he agreeing with her. "Now don't give me that face Mari," he said. "You are not a little girl anymore, so why don't you just go to Amaya's house and I'll cover for you."

"You would do that for me?" she asked her brother. Yuzuru ruffled her hair. "Thank you Yuzu-nii!" Mari gave him a hug. "I'll just grab my bag and go."

**.**

**.**

Amaya was in her kitchen, wearing a light blue apron as three kids ran around the table, begging for food. Iori was sitting at it quietly and waiting for the food so she could finish it and leave. Amaya placed the pot down and started to fill their plates with food, placing them on the table and ignoring their bad manners as they began to devour the food. The doorbell rang, if that was Mari she was earlier then expected.  
>Amaya opened it and let her in. "What happened to eating at your place?" she asked.<p>

"That wasn't the warm welcome I was excepting," Mari pouted. "Is this how you treat all your guests?" she asked, following Amaya back to the kitchen.

"No, only you." Amaya grinned. "Usually I caw and scare them off."

Mari pouted. "Yuzu-nii said he'd rather not be in the house when I explode and he offered to cover for me with mom."

"Yuzu-nii did good this time." Amaya stated. She handed Mari a plate and sat on the counter to eat her own food.

Mari decided against sharing a table with the little terrors and Iori and took place on the counter. "My big brother is the best."

"No, Amaya-nee is the best!" Mei shouted with her mouth full of food. Her twin brothers agreed.

"I think I out voted your brother." Amaya said.

Mari smirked. "You would have," she agreed. "But Amaya-chan have you been keeping secrets, I didn't know you were a man."

"If I was, do you think I would be still single?" Amaya asked.

"I'd totally date you," Mari said bluntly.

"Well at least I know I wouldn't be single." Amaya said bluntly. "I mean come on, I'd be a great dude." Mari put spoonful of curry in her mouth and nodded. Amaya finished eating her food first and started to wash the dishes.

"Anyone would take a man that can cook though," Mari smirked, handing over her plate to Amaya.

Amaya grinned. "Too bad this one is lazy." she joked.

"Do you need any help, before we start planning of imaginary wedding," Mari asked, hopping of the counter. She moved her hand to grab a towel.

Amaya plucked the towel out of her hands. "Go ahead up to my room." she said. "I'll be there in a couple of minutes." Mari pouted, but did what she was told.

Several minutes later Amaya came into the room. Sliding the door closed and locking it, she walked to her closet and pulled out some casual clothes to wear. "So what do you want to do first?" she asked, changing.

Following Amaya's example, Mari got on her knees and opened up her bag. "Should we just change in our pajamas already?" she asked, looking up at her.

Amaya was pulling on an over-sized t-shirt. "That's what I'm doing." she said. Mari nodded and picked out her periwinkle shirt and shorts. When she was done changing, Amaya pulled out her futon and the guest one she kept in her room as well. As Mari got dressed, she rolled them out onto the floor.

Mari stared at it. "Tell me again why you don't have a bed, even though you live in a big house like this?"

"Because it's bad for the floors." Amaya said, sitting down on her futon. Mari shrugged, sitting down next to her.

"So ears first?" Amaya asked, clapping her hands together.

Mari laughed. "So eager to put a hole in my body, is this payback for calling you pudgy?" she asked, laying down on her futon.

"Yes." Amaya said. "Go get an apple and put it to your ear." she stood up and shuffled through her draws for a needle and a lighter as well as some spare earrings."

"Just like that," Mari asked. "No ice to numb the pain," she added, getting up on her feet and opened the door.

"The apple numbs the pain." Amaya said. Mari sighed, she ran down the stairs to get an apple out of the kitchen. Narrowly evading the little terrors in the process.

"Welcome back." Amaya said, burning the needle.

"You had to buy them candy right," Mari asked, sounding a bit annoyed. She threw the apple at Amaya.

"It was the only thing that would work." Amaya said. She tossed the apple back to her. "Hold it to your ear stupid." she said.

"I'm not stupid, you lazy bum," Mari said, catching the apple. "Just like this?" she asked, holding the uncut apple to her ears.

"Yes genius." Amaya said, rolling her eyes. She sat down in front of her and waited. "Tell me when it's numb."

"Technically isn't not a lie though," Mari said proudly. "I am a genius when it comes the sports," she grinned.

"And only in sports." Amaya said. Mari glared at her. She grinned back. "Ready?" she asked.

Mari nodded. "It's now or never," she said. Amaya nodded and pressed the tip of the needle against her earlobe. In a quick push, she shoved it into the skin. Tears welled up in Mari's eyes, but she bit her lip. Refusing to cry out or to make a sound, she wanted this. Just one more ear to go. Amaya cleaned it and put the earring in and changed the needles. After burning the second one she repeated what she had done to the first ear lobe.

A sobbing Mari wiped away the tears out of her eyes. "That freaking hurt so much," she said, looking at Amaya with wide, teary eyes.  
>"I told you it would." Amaya said. "But you're done."<p>

Mari laid back down on her futon and stared up to the ceiling. "Well there is no way back now, I officially have pierced ears now."

"Make sure to turn the earrings several times a day and once a week take them out to clean them." Amaya explained.

Mari rolled on her stomach. "Should I disinfect my ears before I got to sleep tonight to?" she asked.

"Yes." Amaya said. She crossed her legs and carefully touched the reddening earlobes. "I met a funny guy."

"I remember you mentioning that," the smaller girls said, crossing her legs. "How did that happen? I didn't think there would be any funny guys in a choir."

"He wasn't in the choir, he was in the volleyball tean." Amaya grinned.

Mari stared at her. "I thought you hated sports and everything associated with them, so why would you get anywhere near there?"

"One, I may hate sports but I do like athletic men." she said. "Two, we got our club forms switched when we bumped into each other so I had to go get it."

"He must have been something special if you bothered enough to tell me about him," Mari noticed, the black haired girl was unusually protective about her and they never really did boy talks.

"He was hilarious." Amaya said. "Kept staring with this gaped look." she grinned.

A thoughtful frown appeared on Mari's face. "Everything is going to change now isn't it?" she asked a bit worried.

Amaya stared at her. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Mari rolled on her back. "We are high school students now, it feels different then middle school and what happens if you get a boyfriend?"

Amaya smiled and ruffled her hair. "You'll get one before I do." she promised her. "And it won't change the fact that we are best friends."

Mari sniffed incredulously. "I'll treat you to all the takoyaki you can eat if that happens," the girl said, patting Amaya's knee softly. Disbelief was written all over her face, as if that would ever happen.

"You are so on." Amaya said. "And what do I owe you if you win?"

"Nothing," Mari said, waving her hand dismissively.

"Huh?" Amaya asked.

"It's never going to happened Amaya," Mari said. "I don't believe in this bet, so why bother wanting something from you?" she titled her head to the side.

"And what makes you think that?" She asked, resting her chin on her hand.

Amaya was irritating her today, all those difficult questions. "Because Amaya," Mari said tiredly. "I have never met a boy that made my stomach flutter, not one that made me feel special."

"Well that might be my fault for scaring them away." Amaya stated.

"For once this has nothing to do with you," Mari said. "I would feel it if that boy made me feel different, it would be a instant feeling."

"Is that how love works?" Amaya asked. Mari shrugged, she didn't know. It was probably only something you could know after falling in love. Mari doubted it would happened to her soon. Though looking back on it, she regretted those words because fate always had a way of coming back and biting he in the butt.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello, welcome back to the third installment of a 'Murder of Crows', we are so happy with all the lovely reviews we have gotten and of course not to forget the favorites and reviews. It makes us so happy you like our girls.<strong>

**Please keep telling us what you think!**

**- Grump and Dork. **


	4. Crows on the Roof

**CHAPTER IV  
><strong>

**MURDER OF CROWS**

**Arc: The Rooftop**

**Crows on the Roof**

**.  
>.<strong>

It was the start of yet another new day in Karasuno and like usual Amaya and Mari were sitting in their classroom talking. With Amaya facing backwards in her chair and Mari having her arms neatly folded on her desk. A scowl covered Amaya's face and she slammed her fist on the desk. "Why are they making you practice during lunch?" she chided. "That's so unreasonable!"

Mari looked up from her desk. "It customary so that the new recruits can show of for the whole week, so that they can decide who gets to be part of the official competition team," she explained.

"But then I have no one to eat with!" Amaya whined, resting her head on the desk.

Mari patted her head. "Don't whine, it doesn't become you," the gymnast said, getting up to gather her things.

Amaya booed. "What am I suppose to do?" she asked. "Sitting here is stuffy by myself." Her friend didn't say anything, she just laughed at her predicament. "Don't laugh at me!" Amaya shouted. "Butt face!"

Mari didn't react on her insult. "Go scare some people," she teased.

"I don't do it on purpose!" Amaya said. "For the most part anyway..."

The girl shook her head laughing softly at the expression on Amaya's face, she hugged the black haired girls head. "I am leaving now," Mari said, looking down at her friend. She flicked the braid over her friend's shoulder and left the classroom.

Amaya frowned and looked at the braid that now rested across her shoulder. It looked better this way. "Fine, I'll go to the roof then." she said, standing up.

Gathering her lunch, Amaya left the classroom and wandered the halls of the school. She walked down the middle, her hands in the pockets of her blazer as she walked with her head held up. She grumbled at the idea of climbing the stairs but the idea of eating on the roof was pleasant. When she finally arrived, Amaya opened the door to the roof and smiled as a light wind blew across the concrete surface. She closed the door behind her and glanced around, pausing for a second when she recognized a shaved head.

Smiling to herself, Amaya walked closer to him and stopped a safe distance behind him. The familiar boy looked around when he heard footsteps coming behind him, he swallowed the big chunk of melon bread in one go. "Yo, Tanaka Ryuunosuke, right?" she grinned. She casually sat a bit away from him; close enough for a conversation but far enough to make it awkward.

Tanaka didn't respond, he kept staring at her as if he hadn't seen anything quite like her before. If you looked closely though you could see a dark red color staining his cheeks. Amaya sat with her legs crossed and one knee to her chest. "What, never seen a girl before?" she asked, leaning on her upright knee with a grin. He looked down and mumbled something, she didn't quite catch.

"What was that?" she asked. "Sorry I didn't catch it." she leaned in a bit closer to hear him better.

"Nothing," Tanaka said, sounding a bit nervous. He was looking anymore but her face.

"Then look me in the eye." Amaya said. Tanaka acted like a deer caught in the headlights, his hands were wrinkling the packaging of his bread. After some time he finally looked her in the eye. Amaya smiled at him. "I'm Kimura Amaya." she said.

Tanaka cleared his throat. Tanaka Ryuunosuke," he said stiffly, looking down again.

Amaya noded and opened her lunch. "Eating up here is better than a classroom." she said.

"I haven't seen you here before," he said after a little while breaking the silence.

"I'm a first year here." Amaya said, "Aren't you too?"

Tanaka stared at her. "I am," he said in a calm tone. "But I like eating here and I haven't seen anyone here before, so..." he rambled.

"Oh!" Amaya nodded and ate a clump of rice. "I usually eat with my friend but she has club practice so I'm all alone. Eating in the classroom is way too stuffy." she said, exaggerated the 'way' part. Tanaka nodded, stuffing the rest of the melon bread in his mouth.

"Is that all you're eating?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

He held up five more packages of bread. "It's my favorite," he said with a full mouth. Amaya stared at him and laughed. "What?" he asked confused, swallowing the food.

"I've never seen someone eat melon bread like that." She admitted.

Tanaka ripped open another package. "What do you mean?" he asked, pulling it out. "I already ate my lunch this morning, I got hungry."  
>Amaya smiled. "What an interesting guy." she said to herself but loud enough for him to hear.<p>

Tanaka almost choked on his snack. "Eh?" he managed to say.

Amaya chuckled and ate some of her omelets. "I said you're an interesting guy." she said with her mouth full.

"I heard you the first time," Tanaka said embarrassed. "Why would you say something like that," he asked, hiding his face in his hands. He couldn't believe a girl had said something like hat to him, it had never happened before.

"Because you are." Amaya said simply. "I wouldn't lie about things like that, I'm not that nice." she gave him a toothy grin.

A small grin appeared on his face. "I'm sorry about knocking you over before, Kimura-san," Tanaka apologized.

Amaya shrugged. "You didn't exactly knock me over." she said simply. "And it's not like it was your fault, the hallways were too damn crowded."  
>Tanaka shook his head amused. "Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact I knocked you over and didn't help you properly," he argued.<br>"But you didn't knock me over." Amaya said, "You just bumped me."

"Are you always this stubborn?" he asked, unconsciously moving a bit closer to her.

"Of course." Amaya smirked.

Tanaka smiled. "That's a quality I can appreciate," he complimented honestly, taking another bite of his food.

Amaya was taken back a bit by his sudden words and nodded. As she finished her food, the bell rang. "Ah, we should get going." she said, standing up and patting the dust off her butt.

Tanaka got up to and looked at his unopened snacks. "You distracted me," he accused, though his tone had a playful edge to it.  
>Amaya flipped her hair. "Then I feel good about myself." she teased with a grin.<p>

He laughed loudly at her antics and tossed her one of his melon breads. "I guess I'll see you around Kimura-san," Tanaka said over his shoulder, leaving before her.

Amaya caught it with one hand and stared at his receding back. A long grin grew on his face. "This school just got a bit more interesting." she said, walking to the door after he was gone. She opened it up and closed it behind her and walked down the stairs. Descending was so much easier than ascending and she barely thought about making it to the classroom on time. She had finally reached the bottom flight and was about to get off of on her floor when she spotted Mari.

"Amaya-chan?" Mari sounded surprised, she was staring at her as she had seen a ghost. "Did you just climb stairs?" she asked. "Voluntarily?" Her voice went up.

Amaya scowled and smacked the back of her head. "Shut up." she said. "I can climb stairs if I want to, I just hate doing them because I have to."

"Oi," Mari winched, clutching the top of her head in her hands. "That's no reason to hit me," she observed her friend. "You look happy?"  
>Amaya tapped the bag of melon bread against her lips. "I met a rather interesting guy." she said, walking back to the classroom.<br>Mari tried reaching for the the snack. "Where did you get that and I didn't know you liked melon bread?" she asked curiously.  
>"He gave to me." Amaya said, handing it to her.<p>

"He?" Mari frowned, examining the plastic wrapper. "Why do the interesting things only happened when I am gone?" she sighed. "Are you going to eat it?"

Amaya nodded. "I might eat it later." she said, taking it back. "But yes it was a guy."

Mari stared at her. "A boy just gave you a snack," she said incredulously.

"Basically, why?" Amaya asked. She opened the door their classroom and walked in.

The blue-eyed girl looked at her in wonder. "Did he confess to you," she followed Amaya inside the classroom, putting her backpack on the desk.  
>"Confess? Why the hell would he do that?" she asked, sitting down at her seat.<p>

"It makes more sense then him giving you a snack with no apparent reason," Mari argued, taking out her notebook. "Can you lend me your notes?" she added.

Amaya shook her head and handed over the notebook. "We just met the other day and became friends." she said.

"If you say so," Mari responded in a dry voice, immediately copying the notes. "I really hate this teacher," she complained. "He always goes so fast over the material."

"But that's what I'm here for." Amaya said with a smile. Mari smiled back.

**.  
><strong>**.**

The next day Amaya grumbled as she watched Mari get her things ready for yet another lunch practice. Mari smiled ruefully at her. "Just four more days and it's back to our normal practice schedule," she tried reassuring her.

Amaya gave her a curt nod and stood up. "I guess I'll go to the roof again." she sighed.

Mari grinned cheekily at her. "Did you make a snack for that boy?" she asked, poking Amaya's side.

Amaya flinched, nearly dropping her bento. "I only made some onigiri in thanks for the bread." Mari giggled, running out of the classroom to her clubroom. Her expression was enough to infuriate Amaya, pudgy little midget.

Amaya gritted her teeth at Mari's face and stormed off to the roof. That girl had such a way of getting under her skin at times. Why the hell she even thought that the guy had on a crush on her was beyond her. They had just met so there was no way that he would.

Amaya slammed open the door, startling the teen who was already there. "Kimura-san?" Tanaka asked confused, wondering why she was radiating an aura of annoyance.

Amaya walked over and sat next to him, closer than she had the day before. "I don't get girls." she said simply.  
>"Me neither," he admitted, scratching his neck sheepishly. "Though how does that work if you are a girl yourself," Tanaka asked, ripping open the paper bag.<p>

Amaya put the bottom of her feet together and frowned. "Just because I am a girl doesn't mean I understand them." she said. She tossed him a small bundle covered in aluminum foil. "Here."

He caught it effortlessly. "What's this?" Tanaka asked, holding up the bundle in his right hand.  
>"Thanks for the melon bread from yesterday." Amaya said, starting to eat her lunch.<p>

Tanaka blushed, unwrapping the it. "Did you make this?" he asked in awe, staring at the rice ball as if was the most beautiful thing in the world.  
>"Yeah." Amaya said, staring at him. Tears started welling up in his eyes, he sniffed loudly. Amaya flinched and stared at him. "What?" she asked.<br>"Nobody ever did this for me," Tanaka cried, drying up his face against his sleeves. "Thank you so much!"

"It's just an onigiri." Amaya said.

Tanaka shook his head. "It's beautiful," he insisted. "You made this for me, a girl has never done this for me before," he hugged the rice ball closely to his chest.

Amaya chuckled, covering her mouth with her hand. Tanaka looked at her with a wide grin."You really are funny." She said.

Tanaka titled his head to the side. "And Amaya-chan really made me happy just now," he said, taking a small bite of the onigiri. "This is delicious," he hummed, savoring the taste.

Amaya smiled and continued to eat her food. "Thanks for the compliment." she said.

"You're welcome," Tanaka grinned. "So you were saying you didn't understand girls?" he asked, picking up the conversation where they left it.  
>"Basically." Amaya said.<p>

Tanaka swallowed. "What makes you say that?" he asked.

"Because my friend thinks you got a crush on me just because you gave me bread." Amaya said, pointing her chopsticks at him.

Her companion coughed loudly. "Excuse me?" he squeaked. "What?"

"Exactly." Amaya sighed. She looked up at the skirt. "That's impossible."

Tanaka sputtered. "What," he denied. "Amaya-chan seems like a really nice and pretty girl," he rambled, "but I was just trying to be nice."

He patted her back. "I disagree," Tanaka protested loudly. "Not everyone would give me onigiri, as a matter of fact nobody ever did before. Except Saeko, but I don't want to think about that," he shuddered at the thought.

"I gave you it because you gave me bread." Amaya said bluntly. "Who's Saeko?"

Tanaka grimaced, regretting bringing her up now. "My big sister."

"Eh? So you have a big sister?" Amaya asked interested. "Well you do give off the little brother feel."

"I do?" Tanaka said surprised. "I hadn't noticed," he scratched his chin.

Amaya grinned and nodded. "Yup."

"I see, I see," Tanaka nodded, crossing his arms. "What about you?" he started at her. "You have a cute little sister right!" he guessed.

"I'm the oldest." Amaya said. "But I don't have one little sister."

Tanaka was confused. "A brother then?" he tried again.

"I don't have one little brother either." Amaya grinned.

"Just tell me already," Tanaka sighed, giving up. "Or do you have pet you count as siblings or something."

"I have two little brothers and two little sisters." Amaya said with a smile. "But if you want to know pets as well I have three dogs and two cats."

Tanaka whistled impressed by the number. "Your parents sure where busy," he said, leaning on back on his hands.

"Well the boys are twins." Amaya laughed.

"That's still four times they were busy," Tanaka said boldly. "Well I guess you are never lonely?"

"Sometimes I wish I knew what being lonely was." she said.

Tanaka frowned. "How come?" he asked.

"Sometimes you just want it to be quiet." she said.

"I'm afraid then I'm not the best company then," Tanaka smiled apologetically. "I have been told I anything but that."

"No, I love the loud atmosphere." Amaya said. "Sometimes I just wish it coud be quiet."

He nodded, agreeing with Amaya said. Tanaka looked over her shoulder, noticing the loud hour. "Lunch is almost over," he said sadly.

Amaya sighed and closed up her bento box. "Time really does seem to go by fast when we talk." she said.

"It seems like it," Tanaka looked down. "Amaya-chan, I was wondering if we maybe could meet up here again?" he asked hopefully in a small voice.

"Hm? Sure." Amaya said causally, standing up. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Cool," the boy said, trying to keep his cool. He stuffed his hands in his pocket.

Amaya tied up her bento and waved good bye, walking towards the door again before disappearing down the stairs.

"Romance is in the air," Mari said in a singsongy voice, doing a little twirl while she was at it. "Or is it love?"

Amaya jumped slightly when her friend came out of nowhere. "What the fuck are you going on about?" she asked.

"About your date," Mari teased. "I mean you made him onigiri," she put her hands over her heart. "Food comes from that place you know."

Amaya raised an eyebrow unimpressed. "It's the only thing I can do in return for bread." he said.

Mari snorted. "Amaya, I love you like a sister and you are a wonderful person," she paused, "but you or not that nice to strangers even if they gave you a snack. So he must be something special at least."

"We're friends." Amaya said simply.

She crossed her arms. "Did he have pretty eyes?"

"Strong eyes." Amaya said.

"It always the eyes," Mari said nodding satisfied, for some reason the gymnast was under the impression she became friends with people because of their eyes.

"His eyes have nothing to do with it!" Amaya protested.

Mari smirked. "His body maybe," she cooed. "Is he an athlete, are you secretly using him as eye candy?"

"He is good looking." Amaya said. "But his gakuran hid most of his body."

"Amaya-chan, you came to this school because you liked the uniform," she reminded her. "So you'd like him regardless of his gakuran."  
>"True." Amaya grinned. "Wait, I don't like him like that."<p>

"I have never seen you try so hard to deny something," Mari laughed.

"Because you're wrong!' Amaya said.

"Whatever you say," she shrugged, hugging her friend.

"Maybe I should stop lending you my notes." Amaya huffed. Mari hugged her tighter and looked up at her with her big, blue eyes. Amaya covered Mari's face with her hand, not wanting to see it.

"You would never do that to me," she said confidently. "I am your favorite person." Amaya sighed in a loss, Mari cheered loudly when she knew she had won. "Come one let's go back to class." Amaya grumbled and followed beside her.

* * *

><p><strong>And we have officially started the second arc and the first official meeting between Tanaka and Amaya. This chapter was so much fun to write. Thank you so much for the follows and favorites and also the review. Please tell us what you think about this chapter! <strong>

**- Grump and Dork**


	5. The Guardian God

**CHAPTER V**

**MURDER OF CROWS**

**Arc: The Rooftop**

**The Guardian God**

**.  
><strong>**.**

It was the third day of Mari's lunch time practices and Amaya had already gotten into the routine of going to the rooftop to enjoy her lunch with Tanaka. She really wanted the guy to meet Mari so she could see how funny he was and today she decided to ask if he wanted to walk down with her to meet him. She even prepared some homemade melon bread in case bribes were necessary to get the teen boy to meet agree. When she arrived at the door, she could hear the voices on the roof clearly, signs that whoever it was, was yelling. She recognized Tanaka's voice but there was another voice there, only equally excited but a different pinch. With a pondering thought, she opened the door to see not only Tanaka, but a shorter boy with spiky dark brown hair. She was treated by the sight of Tanaka trying to shoving the shorter boy off the roof, in fact he almost collided with her. Amaya quickly side stepped out of the way and looked at Tanaka. "Am I missing something fun?" she asked.

Tanaka immediately let go of the other boy. "Amaya-chan," he cried, a happy grin tugging at his lips. The boy with spiky dark brown hair stared at her with wide eyes.

Amaya smiled at Tanaka. "Yo, am I interrupting something?" she asked, glancing at the other teenager whom she remembered seeing from somewhere before.

Tanaka laughed nervously. "Nothing much," he promised. "Just something between Noya-san and me," he grabbed the shorter boy, who had hid behind Tanaka by the shoulders. "This is my teammate Nishinoya and he was about to leave," he grinned, introducing Noya to her.

"Nice to meet you." Amaya said casually. "I'm Kimura Amaya."

Noya nodded his head quickly and muttered a greeting. "We play volleyball together," Tanaka blurted out. "He's a libero.

"Libero?" Amaya asked, not recognizing that term.

An awkward silence fell as neither boy could find the words to explain the part. Tanaka let out a frustrated sigh. "Let's have lunch together Amaya-chan," he said, grabbing her wrist he dragged her along, leaving Noya behind. "How was your day so far?"

Amaya was a bit surprised at Tanaka's forward actions and glanced behind her at Noya. "It's been good..." she said. "What's with your friend?"  
>Noya stared at them before realizing what Tanaka was trying to do. "Oi! Ryuu!" he shouted, following them.<p>

"He's shy around girls," Tanaka smirked, taunting his teammate a bit. "And I'm glad you had a good day," he handed her a juice box.  
>Amaya took it and watched as the boy came up next to Tanaka. She could now see just how short he really was. "I'm not so bad that I have to be ignored." Noya protested.<p>

Amaya pushed the straw into the juice box.

Tanaka laughed. "But Noya-san you didn't respond when she asked what a libero was and it was getting awkward," he said, bending down to sit on the floor cross-legged.

Amaya nodded and sat down next to him. "Thanks." she said with a grin.

Noya had stayed silent trying to come up with an excuse but instead he sat himself down with legs crossed like the two before him. "I can tell her what a libero is..." he said.

"I'm sure Amaya-chan wants to know, right?" he asked her, zipping open his backpack.

"I am curious." Amaya admitted. "Never heard of that position." She started to unwrap her bento, the juice box placed carefully in front of her.  
>"It's a defensive position in volleyball." Noya said quickly, holding his own bread.<p>

Tanaka couldn't help but stare at the extra package in Amaya's hands. "Basically Noya-san is very good at receiving" he said distractedly, unwrapping his on bread.

"If you can sum it up like that then why don't you!?" Noya asked irritated.

"But isn't volleyball almost all about receiving?" Amaya asked. "So isn't it normal to be good at receiving?" Tanaka blushed.

"Did I say something wrong?" Amaya asked.

"Receiving is a big part of it but most of the action happens in the air at the net." Noya said, trying to defend his friend a bit.

"I'm confused." Amaya said bluntly.

Tanaka scratched his neck sheepishly. "I might not be very good at receiving yet," he muttered. "But I'm practicing a lot," he insisted.

"So it's basically more than just receiving?" she asked. Noya nodded. Amaya shrugged and started to eat her food. "This is why I don't bother with sports."

"They are fun," Tanaka booed. "You should try it."

"My limit is walking up the stairs to eat lunch with you." Amaya said bluntly.

Noya bit back a laugh. "Amaya-chan you are not fun," Tanaka laughed, not bothering to hold it back unlike Noya.

Amaya grinned. "What, you want me to twirl and be all cute in a cheer-leading outfit then?" she joked.

Noya snapped to attention at that.

Tanaka almost dropped his sandwich. "Would you," he asked sounding hopeful.

"Like hell." Amaya said, smacking his shoulder.

Noya chuckled. Tanaka shot a knowing grin at his friend. "Well we could try," he said. "You know any girls that would do that though," he joked.  
>"Not at all." Amaya said.<p>

Noya glanced between them, nibbling at his food a bit as he tried to figure out something.

"Something wrong Noya-san?" Tanaka asked, his unusually quiet friend.

"I can't think of anything to say." Noya whispered.

Amaya glanced at the bag next to her and frowned. With Noya here she couldn't ask for Tanaka to meet Mari. She sighed slightly.  
>Tanaka snorted. "You usually never shut up."<p>

"Oh shut up." he said.

"Oi, Tanaka." Amaya said, tossing him the bag. "Something for you." Tanaka easily caught the bag he had being eying earlier. Noya glanced at it, wondering what she had given Tanaka. "Sorry, it probably tastes bad." she said, sipping at the juice box.

The boy with sharp eyes quickly opened up the bag, almost tearing it. "You made this?" Tanaka asked sounding very impressed.

"My siblings wanted some and I didn't feel like going to the store." She explained though she had wanted to try making it. "I'm not good at making sweets though."

"Does that mean you also made your lunch?" Noya asked. Amaya nodded.

"Amaya-chan even made me some onigiri," Tanaka bragged, happily at the memory of a girl making something homemade for him.

Noya stared at him surprised. How could Tanaka get so lucky as to receive that?

Amaya frowned, her ears turning a light pink. "It was just a thanks for the melon bread he had given me." she explained.

"I had some leftover," Tanaka reminded her. "Nothing special at all."

"You still gave me food." Amaya pointed out.

"Lucky..." Noya grumbled, looking at the food.

"There should be two pieces in there." she pointed out.

Tanaka held the melon bread protectively against his chest. "Noya-san doesn't like melon bread," he lied.

"That's a lie, Ryuu!" Noya shouted, standing up and pointing accusingly at his friend.

Amaya watched them; she didn't understand why Tanaka was being protective of the bread but these two amused her greatly.

"It's mine," Tanaka protested, not wanting to share. "I'll buy you ice-cream after practice," he promised.

Noya stopped and thought. On one hand it was homemade food from a girl - even if it wasn't made just for him, on the other hand it was Gari-Gari-Kun. "Fine, but I want two!" he said.

Amaya chuckled. "Okay," Tanaka said holding his hand out for him so shake it. "It's a deal." Noya took it and shook on it.

"You two are hilarious." Amaya said.  
>"Are we?" Tanaka asked, sounding surprised. Amaya nodded. Noya's cheeks flushed and he got a bit sheepish. "Does your friend still think you like me?" Tanaka asked with a small blush. "Since you made me food again?"<p>

"She doesn't know about this time but probably." Amaya admitted.

"Hah?" Noya started at him, absentmindedly chewing on his bread.

Tanaka ignored Noya. "Didn't you explain that we are just friends though?" he laughed nervously, taking a big bite out of his sandwich.

"I did." Amaya said, placing her empty bento down. "She doesn't believe it."

"Which friend," Noya said loudly, not liking being left out.  
>"My childhood friend Mari." Amaya said.<p>

"But that's a girl?" The shorter boy said confused.

Tanaka laughed, swallowing his food. "What gave it away Noya-san."

"Oi, I'm pretty sure Kimura-san said she didn't know a lot of girls." Noya protested.

"That doesn't mean that I don't know any." Amaya said. "And I've known Mari since kindergarten."

Noya whistled. Tanaka bumped his shoulder against his. "Now don't get any ideas," he laughed. "No bothering Amaya-chan's friend."

"Yes, no bothering Amaya-chan's friend." Amaya grinned.

Noya pouted. "Ryuu is just as bad as me Kimura-san," he tried defending himself. "Besides I'm not a brute!"

"I know Tanaka better." Amaya explained.

"Yes, she knows me better," Tanaka agreed. "Beside Amaya-chan's friend thinks I like Amaya."

"Why does that matter?" Noya scowled.

Amaya raised an eyebrow. "We were just joking Noya-san," Tanaka said, noticing the change moods in his friend.

Amaya chuckled and smiled. "Lunch is going to end soon." she mentioned.

"But we are having fun," Tanaka whined, not wanting it to be over yet. "And I haven't tasted your melon bread yet!"

"Then eat it quickly." Amaya said, closing up her lunchbox. Noya started to devour his own lunch.

Amaya nodded and stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow then." she said.

"Goodbye," Tanaka said waving, with an even wider grin. Amaya waved him off and Noya waved back at her as well. She went down the stairs towards her classroom.

"Amaya-chan?" Mari greeted happily, when she saw Amaya walk down the stairs. She was holding a book in her arms.

"Hey Mari." Amaya smiled and went over to her. "What's with the book?' she asked.

Mari held it out to her. "It's an art book," she explained. "You know practiced ended a bit earlier and this nice boy helped me in the library to find it."

"Nice boy?" Amaya frowned.

Mari giggled. "Don't worry Amaya-chan, his name is Ennoshita Chikara and he's a fellow first year," she hugged the book against her chest again. "He had no interest in me at all I promise!"

Amaya thought for a second but nodded. "Okay, I'll let this one go but only because I'm in a good mood." she said.

"I knew it was a good call of me not to interrupt your date," Mari cheered. "You know because I was thinking of maybe joining you on the roof, but I decided against it!"

"It's not a date!" Amaya hissed. "Besides another boy was there." she said quickly.

"Planning on starting your own harem," the gymnast teased.

"You're just jealous that I got them coming to my heels." Amaya smirked, bumping her hip against Mari.

Mari looked confused. "Why would I be jealous about that?" she asked, titling her head to the side. "It only means I won't have to buy you takoyaki."

Amaya stared at her and then hugged her. "No one can replace you." she cooed.

Mari nuzzled her head against Amaya. "I'm still not buying you takoyaki," she said after a while.

"Meanie." Amaya said with a frown. "You will get a boyfriend before I fall in love and you are buying me takoyaki!"

Mari smirked, resting her chin against Amaya. "I haven't met a boy yet that I'd possibly fall in love with so good luck!"

"And I haven't either." Amaya said in retaliation.

"Didn't the boys flock you a minute ago though," Mari asked, walking to their classroom.

"We were just eating lunch." Amaya reminded her, taking her seat.

Mari sighed, she put the book on her desk and patter her shoulder. "A boy's love goes through his stomach," she said wisely. "That's what Yuzu-nii said."

"You are taking advice from Yuzu-nii?" she asked her not believing it.

"My brother has more life experience then the both of us combined," Mari said. "And he's a boy."

"He's Yuzu-nii." Amaya said bluntly.

"Shut up," Mari huffed, her brother was brilliant dammit. Amaya chuckled and ruffled Mari's hair.

**.**  
><strong>.<strong>

It was Friday finally and without thinking too much of it, Amaya stood up and gathered her things to go the roof. She waved Mari off as the girl went to her practice and made her way up to the rooftop. Opening the door, she spotted Noya and Tanaka, talking happily as they waited for her.

"You're late," Tanaka said, sounding a bit worried. "Did something happen?"

"No, nothing." Amaya said. "I'm just a bit tired." She sat down and let out a yawn. Noya greeted her with a smile.

"That's good," he grinned relieved. "Amaya-chan look at this," he grabbed Noya's shoulder. "He got slapped by our manager."

Amaya noticed the red mark on Noya's cheek and laughed. "What the hell did you do?" she asked, holding her stomach.

"I greeted her." Noya said with a smirk. "Receiving a slap from Kiyoko-san is amazing."

Tanaka laughed. "I agree Kiyoko-san is amazing," he said with stars in his eyes. "But I'd rather not get slapped."

"Is she some sort of goddess?" Amaya asked, resting her chin on her palm.

"Yes." Noya said bluntly and Tanaka nodded eagerly.

Amaya shook her head and sighed. "You boys are so strange." she said, patting both of them on the head.

"But we're your boys right," Tanaka grinned.

"Yup." Amaya gave them a toothy grin.

Noya grinned back, his attention turning to the opening door.

"Amaya-chan are you here," Mari asked peeking her head out of the door. "You know I'm sorry about breaking up your date, but I don't fancy spending another lunch period in the library. Even if Ennoshita-kun is nice company."

Amaya glanced back at her. "Mari?" she asked, standing up and going over to her friend. "What happened to your practice?"

"Amaya-chan," Mari said happily, hugging her friend. "It was canceled because Ishimoto-senpai was sick and I made the team!"

Amaya smiled and hugged her friend back. "That's awesome!" she said, messing her hair up a bit. "Let's go out this weekend to celebrate!"

Mari nodded happily and she titled her head to look at Noya and Tanaka, who were both staring at her with wide eyes. "So who's your date?" she asked innocently. Tanaka made a soft choking sound.

"Neither." Amaya scowled, pinching her cheeks. With an arm on Mari's shoulder, she turned her to face the two boys. "On the right is Tanaka and the left is Noya." she said.

"It's nice to meet you," Mari smiled. "I'm Tachibana Mari," she greeted. "But I won't share my Amaya-chan," she said grabbing Amaya possessively. Amaya smiled and hugged her friend back.

"N-nicetomeetyou!" Noya said quickly, biting his tongue. Tanaka was tong-tied and just kept staring at her. Mari smiled.


	6. Four of a Kind

**CHAPTER VI**

**MURDER OF CROWS**

**ARC: THE ROOFTOP**

**FOUR OF A KIND**

**.  
>.<strong>

So far Mari hadn't regretted picking Karasuno as her choice of high school, the school grounds were nice, the classes not too difficult and the people bearable. Even though she was perceived as a well liked person by her classmates, she hadn't really bothered to connect with her fellow schoolmates. The first one Mari had properly opened up to was probably Ennoshita-kun, the boy she met in the library. He had the potential to be firmly placed into one of her friend slots, Amaya always laughed at her weird ways of connecting to people in their age group. Though at the moment Tanaka Ryuunosuke was on top of her people of interest list; he was nothing like she had expected him to be and at the same time he was. At first she had recognized him as one of her shoe locker neighbors, but he she could see what Amaya liked about him.

"So did you come here to join us for lunch?" Amaya asked, dragging Mari out of any thoughts she could have had. The two boys snapped out of their own thoughts as well and stared at Mari, hoping her answer would be yes.

Mari smiled. "Amaya-chan I forgot lunch, feed me!" she demanded, instead of properly answering the question.  
>Amaya laughed. "Only for my little piglet." she teased.<p>

The other girl froze at Amaya's playful taunt. "Amaya-chan," Mari growled in a dangerously low voice, she cracked her fists. Tanaka quickly covered his mouth with his hand to bite back a snicker.

"You are just jealous because I have a faster metabolism then you," Mari huffed, crossing her arms. They had completely forgotten they had company.

"You just exercise more, that's all." Amaya said, crossing her arms. "For someone lazy like me, I have to be careful."

Mari poked Amaya's thighs. "You sure that aren't excuses, thunder thighs," she smirked, using the girls own insult against her.

"Funny coming from the girl whose thighs are twice the size of mine." Amaya said. She smirked.

"You are just jealous because my cup size was bigger last time we went to shop for bra's," Mari blurted out. "Even though I'm more then ten centimeters shorter then you!"

"My boobs are still bigger than yours." Amaya said, pulling her cheeks. "And yours only got bigger because you have more fat!"  
>Mari yelped loudly. "My cheeks."<p>

"Pay back for my sides." Amaya said, not letting go. Tanaka and Noya had red faces at the conversation that the two girls were so casually arguing about. In a attempt to free herself from the black haired girls iron grip, Mari kicked her shins. "That hurts!" Amaya shouted, holding her shin. "Bully!"

Mari sank down her knees, cradling her sore cheeks in her hands. "It's you own fault - what?" she asked cutting of her own sentence when she looked at the two blushing boys. "Why are you blushing?"Noya couldn't find the proper words to say; there were so many reasons that they were blushing.

Amaya raised an eyebrow and put her foot back onto the ground. "Are we that embarrassing?" she asked.

Mari flushed pink. "What we were talking about was," she snapped.

Tanaka felt himself relax at bit and snorted. "Is that how you talk?" he asked amused.

Amaya scratched the back of her head. "Well I guess we are always like this." he said.

"So that's girl talk." Noya asked, eyes sparkling.

Mari shook her head. "It's not," she denied, still rubbing her sore cheeks. "Only Amaya-chan treats me this way."

"I only treat you that way because I love you." Amaya grinned, patting her head roughly. Noya looked a bit disappointed but since the girls seemed to be having fun, he smiled.

The sharp-eyed boy put an arm around his teammates shoulders. "Why did you look disappointed Noya-san," he asked confused. Mari blinked, focusing her attention completely on the shorter boy. She titled her head to the side, he seemed pretty interesting to.

"I thought I had finally witnessed girl talk." Noya said. Amaya noticed her friend's glanced and smiled to herself.

"Girl talk would be more like," Mari looked up to Amaya. "Do you still want to go shopping Saturday after I finish practice?"

"Yeah." Amaya said casually. "A new CD came out that I want to buy." Noya's eyes lit up again.

Mari nodded. "I wanted to buy that blue dress," she said, looking to her side when she heard Tanaka's stomach growl loudly.

Amaya bit back a laugh. "Lets talk while we eat." she said, pointing to their abandoned lunches.

"Feed me," Mari pouted. "Amaya-chan makes the best lunches after all."

"You think so to Tachibana-san?" Tanaka asked, looking at the smaller girl.

"I have some food for you." Amaya promised.

"I want to try it too!" Noya protested.

Mari looked back again to the other boy. "But you already have a lunch," she pointed at his bread.

"Bread is different from a homemade lunch though!" Noya protested.

Amaya opened her lunchbox and handed Mari a pair of chopsticks.

Tanaka snickered. "I don't think they are going to share Noya-san." Mari grinned and happily shook her head. Noya sulked slightly but immediately perked up when he remembered that he was eating lunch with two girls. His face flushed slightly.

"Don't you dare eat all my chicken this time." Amaya threatened.

"But chicken tastes so good," Mari pouted, grabbing some chicken with her chopsticks. "I don't like carrots," she protested.

Tanaka who had taken place next to Amaya opened his own lunch. "Tachibana-san, Amaya-chan are you sure bickering isn't your type of girl talk though?" he asked amused.

"I didn't make this for you!" Amaya snapped, smacking her friend up top the head. She turned to tanaka and grinned. "I'm sure." she said.

Noya stared at Amaya's lunchbox as he bit into his bread. Mari noticed and picked out one of the side dishes between her chopsticks. "Open wide, Nishinoya-kun," Mari said mischievously.

Noya's face exploded in a bright red as he shakily opened his mouth. Amaya scowled her at taking her favorite side dish and quickly ate the rest of it herself. Tanaka almost choked when he saw the bold interaction between Mari and Nishinoya, he started muttered to himself.

"Something wrong?" Amaya asked him, about to shove a piece of a egg in her mouth. Noya was currently on cloud nine as he ate the food.

"Tachibana-san sure is bold," he whispered.

"Am I?" Mari asked, turning around to face them.

"I can't believe you just fed a boy you just met." Amaya said. The blue-eyed girl flushed pink when realization struck her, falling back on her butt. She tried to move away from Nishinoya, what was this strange uncomfortable feeling that was washing over her. Amaya stared at her friend's reaction and pushed back the amusement that she got from it. She patted Mari's shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asked, biting back her chuckle.

"I don't like being embarrassed," Mari whined, hiding her face behind her arms.

"Well neither do I, but if you keep flailing we'll see your panties." Amaya said. Mari frowned when she saw both boys eyes zeroing in on her skirt, quickly she moved so that she was sitting back on her knees. She glared at Tanaka and Noya.

Noya flinched at the glare. "Sorry!" he shouted quickly.

"It was blue." Amaya said. Tanaka coughed loudly.

"Oi," Mari protested, pulling at her friends braid. "Don't tell them that stuff."

"Ow!" Amaya whined. "They already saw so what's the point?" Amaya asked.

"They probably didn't see anything!" Mari snapped. "Did you!" The boys quickly shook their heads, even though their ears were scarlet.  
>Amaya sighed and shrugged. "Let's finish eating." she said.<p>

"Yes, let's do that," Tanaka said uncomfortable, stuffing his mouth with this bread.

Amaya continued to eat her food, shoving a piece of chicken in Mari's face. "Eat." she said. Noya devoured his bread as well.

She chewed on the bit of chicken Amaya had fed her. "You know I really don't know a lot about Tanaka-kun and Nishinoya-kun yet," Mari said with her mouthful, covering her mouth. "I'm guessing you both play volleyball?"

Noya nodded and tried to talk with his mouth full. "I know Noya is a libero and Tanaka was a... wing spiker right?" Amaya asked.  
>Tanaka slammed his fist against his chest and swallowed. "I am," he said happily, feeling very flattered he remembered.<p>

"Eh really, that's impressive. Nishinoya-kun libero is a special position isn't it?" Mari said easily. "Not that being a wing spiker isn't impressive but there are two on a field right and only one libero," she rambled on.

Amaya stared at Mari. "When did you know stuff about volleyball?" she asked.

"Dad and I sometimes watched sport matches on the television, we like to watch volleyball and baseball the most," Mari explained. "But it's no fun if you don't know what's happening."

"Which is why I don't watch sports." Amaya smirked.

"Oi," Mari said, nudging her shoulder against Amaya's. "What's wrong with them?"

Amaya glanced at the two boys. "Well Noya looks like he's choking on his bread and Tanaka looks like he's debating whether to help him or ask a question." she said. Mari sighed and started patting Noya's back. Honestly they were really weird boys, she was even acting out of character herself today.

Noya's neck turned red as he finally managed to swallow the bread. "T-thank you." he stuttered.

"It's fine," Mari smiled at him. "Though you should be more careful, what happened?" she asked curiously.

"I'm just surprised that you know so much about volleyball." he admitted, Tanaka nodded.

Mari shrugged. "It's not that special, I am pretty athletic and considered good at sports so it's something I am interested in." Noya nodded enthusiastically.

Amaya let out a yawn and wondered if she had enough time for a quick nap. "Amaya-chan are we boring you?" Tanaka asked worried. Mari snickered loudly at he boys worried expression, he was so fidgety around Amaya.

Amaya smiled slightly. "Sports aren't my thing so I get bored when people start talking them." she said apologetically. "Then again, not much interests me."

"That's true," Mari agreed. "It's so much work to amuse Amaya-chan, I even tried taking music lessons to have something in common with her but she's to lazy," the smaller girl sighed.

"Just because I know how to play the piano and violin doesn't mean I like to." Amaya said. "Playing instruments is such a pain in the ass."  
>"Amaya-chan likes music?" Noya asked.<p>

Mari opened her mouth to explain, but Tanaka was faster and cut her off. "Don't your remember Noya-san, Amaya-chan was planning on joining the choir at first," he said, putting away his lunch box.

"But choir and instruments are totally different, Ryuu." Noya said quickly.

"He's got a point there." Amaya said.

"They really are," Mari agreed. "I can also play piano and the recorder, but I have no interest in singing," she added, casually forgetting to mention that she was in fact tone-deaf. Though she could thrust Amaya not to run her mouth of to the volleyball players.

Amaya smirked knowingly but kept her mouth shut. "Though I only learned the piano and violin cause my parents thought it could keep me entertained." she said.

"I hate the piano," Mari grumbled, rubbing her wrists.

Amaya patted her friends head. "Is it that hard?" Noya asked.

"It does seem hard," Tanaka said. "Like you probably need to practice a lot?"

"She does." Amaya said pointing to Mari.

"I am decent at playing the piano," the girl in question grumbled. "But I have other talents and I like gymnastic a lot more," she huffed, crossing her arms.

"Well neither of us like the piano then." Amaya grinned. Tanaka couldn't help himself and broke out in fit of laughter, taking shallow breaths.

"What's so funny?" Noya asked.

Mari looked confused.

"Honestly you two are acting really weird you know?" Tanaka said.

Amaya stared at her. "We are?" she asked, glancing at Tanaka.

He was still laughing loudly. "It's just I really think that bickering really is your way of girl talk," Tanaka said dryly.

Amaya smiled at Mari. "I guess it is." she said. Mari let out a sigh, smiling wryly at the group. Noya grinned at the two girls.

"But should we happy about that?" Mari asked. "Isn't bickering really violent and I don't know if we are always like that," she pouted, running her fingers through her bangs.

"Well it's not like our bickering ruins our friendship." Amaya said.

"Time already," Mari frowned when she heard the afternoon bell chime. "I don't want to have lessons yet!"

"Dammit..." Amaya grumbled. "I hate our Japanese teacher too." She gathered her items and stood up.

Tanaka grabbed her wrist. "Amaya-chan wait," he said softly, having a firm grip on her arm. "I wonder if we could exchange phone numbers?"

"It was nice meeting you." Noya told Mari quickly.

"For me to," Mari said quickly. "Meeting you I mean."

Amaya grinned and pulled out her phone. "Sure." she said. "How do I add a new person in here?"

Noya beamed happily. Mari felt her heart fluttered in her chest, she stole Amaya's cellphone and held it out. "I'll exchange her number with you Tanaka-kun," Mari said. "Amaya's hopeless with technology."

"It's only cellphones!" Amaya said, trying to defend herself. Noya chuckled.

"It's cool," Tanaka said happily, his hands were shaking. He added Amaya to his contacts and send her a message. "This way it's easier," he grinned.

"That's true," Mari agreed as she used the data of the text message to add him to Amaya's contacts. "Though Amaya-chan still wouldn't be able to do it properly," she teased. Amaya huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I guess we should get going," Tanaka said waving at them, looking at the black haired girl.

Amaya took her phone from Mari and smiled at him. "See you later." she said. Noya waved as the two boys left ahead of them.

Mari crossed her arms. "I take it back," she said. "There is no way Tanaka-kun would date you."

"What made you change your mind." Amaya asked, holding her bento box and offering the girl a hand to stand up.

Taking Amaya's hand Mari smirked. "He's more likely to propose if the law would let him," she cackled loudly, getting on her feed. "Or maybe sing you a serenade."

"What!?" Amaya flinched. "He would not!"

"I'm just kidding," Mari giggled. "Though you can't deny he's very eager to be around you," she said walking ahead of Amaya.

Amaya stared at her blankly. "We're friends." she said.

She opened the door. "I don't act that way though," Mari said.

"You are a childhood friend." Amaya reminded her.

"I don't see Nishinoya-kun acting the same way," Mari countered, as she made her way down the stairs. Honestly why was that girl always so stubborn, she really was a mule.

Amaya scowled. "He just met you." she chided.

"I was talking about how he treats you," Mari muttered, trying to ignore the blush burning her cheeks.

Amaya chuckled. "Anyway, you have club practice tomorrow morning, right?" she asked. Mari nodded. "You going to come over to my place right afterwards?" she asked, opening the classroom door.

"I'll probably go home first to take a shower," she said, entering the classroom before the taller girl. "We'll go shopping afterwards right?"

Amaya nodded and took her spot. "Be careful on your way back." she said. "I heard about a wild dog roaming around the area from the farmers."

Mari sat down behind her desk. "Seriously Amaya I don't even pass the fields on my way home, so don't worry so much," she said, resting her chin on her desk.

"The dog can wander." Amaya chided.

"Yes, yes," Mari sighed.

Amaya let out a yawn. "Let's get this lesson over with." she said.

.

Mari yawned, stretching her arms behind her neck. "Momo-senpai really is a slave driver," she complained. The gymnast leaned forward, before getting up again as she left the school grounds. She was wearing a simple pair of leggings and a short-sleeved sweater dress.

Noya was walking with Tanaka as they left the grounds after their practice. The upper classmen all had things they needed to do and had told the two first years to go ahead of them. Noya laughed with Tanaka when he spotted Mari. "Tachibana-san!" he shouted. Not immediately recognizing the voice, Mari turned around to see who was calling of for her.

Tanaka looked surprised, following behind Noya. "Oi, Noya-san you recognized her quickly."

"Of course." Noya beamed proudly. "Did you have club practice too, Tachibana-san?" he asked.

Mari bowed formally. "Tanaka-kun, Nishinoya-kun," she greeted. "Yes, I had club practice today to, my captain said that the regulars of the team always have extra practice on Saturday."

"You're a regular already?" Noya asked impressed.

"I am," Mari said proudly, walking leisurely next to Noya. Tanaka was walking behind them and watched with interest.

"You're amazing." Noya said.

Mari shook her head. "I'm not really," she said. "I just trained hard and it's natural that's rewarded."

"That's true, but doing that is amazing in it's own right." Noya told her.

"I guess I'll just leave then," Tanaka said interrupting them. "Since I'm being forgotten already."

Mari looked over her shoulder. "That's not true Tanaka-kun," she insisted. "Feel free to change the subject to anything you like!"

"Didn't you say nee-san had something she needed you to do?" Noya reminded him, knowing Saeko would get annoyed if he forgot.

"She did," he said. "So don't worry Tachibana-san, I had to leave anyway," Tanaka laughed, running ahead of them.

Noya waved good by to his friend and then realized that he was alone with Mari. "Ah so... do you want me to walk you home?" he offered.

A smile mad it's way to Mari's face. "I wouldn't be against it," she said shyly. "Though I don't want you to go out of your way either."

"It's fine, my place is this way too!" he said. Mari nodded. Noya beamed at her. "So does Amaya-chan not have anything to do on Saturdays?" he asked.

"She sleeps," Mari said dryly. "She's the pinnacle of laziness." Switching her shoulder bag to her other shoulder.

"Being able to be lazy and have good grades must be nice." Noya said.

Mari shook her head, shuddering at the thought. "I think it would be horrible," she said, making a little jump. "I don't like sitting still for to long, I love being active."

Noya laughed. "I agree with that." he said. "I always fall asleep in class."

"I couldn't do that," Mari sighed. "My grades would be terrible, the only reason I get above average is because of Amaya-chan's notes."

"The teacher's lectures put me to sleep." Noya said. "Notes? Amaya-chan takes notes?"

"She does," Mari said confused. "Isn't it natural to take notes during lessons?"

"I don't mean to be rude but she doesn't give off the feeling of someone who does it diligently." Noya said.

Mari bit her lips. "Well I think judging people on appearances is a foolish thing to do."

"I know, sorry." Noya said quickly.

"It's fine Nishinoya-kun," she reached out to touch his shoulder, but decided against it. "So tell me are you any good, at volleyball I mean?" she smirked, challenging him.

Noya's frown slowly turned to a grin. "I guess I'm a regular too." he said, scratching his cheek.

Mari smiled. "I guess I'm not the only one is amazing."

Noya's face blushed. "Well it's because I play a special position." he said.

Mari pursed her lips. "I'm sure you are to modest."

"Libero is a special position though." Noya said.

"I know," Mari said. "It's mostly a position played by shorter players, it mostly defensive and you must be good at receiving," she started summing up on her fingers. "Most likely you aren't very good at handling the ball overhand and you switch around in the field a lot," Mari looked up at him.

"On the other hand receiving is considered something very hard and libero's do specialize in it, so most likely you are just modest," she said finishing her speech in a very calm tone.

Noya stared at her through out it and then let out a laugh. "You really are amazing." she said.

"I'm just good at sports," Mari muttered.

"But to know so much about this is amazing!" Noya said.

"It's really isn't," Mari denied. "I just don't like watching things I don't understand, so if it's in my abilities to learn then I'll do it. Knowing things isn't the same as playing."

"That's true." Noya said. "But just knowing is amazing."

"Hmmm, I'm guessing you know zero about gymnastics," Mari asked, forming the number with her thumb and index finger.

Noya's cheeks turned pink and he smiled. "I know you do a lot of amazing flips and stuff." he said.

Mari snorted. "Okay it's more then that," she laughed. "I practice artistic gymnastics and there are four events for woman; the vault, the uneven bars, the balance beam and the floor. I guess it the best at the uneven bars and worst at the balance beam."

"It really is complicated, isn't it?" Noya said.

Mari sheepishly scratched her neck. "I guess."

"To me it sounds that way since I don't know much about it." Noya said.

"Well I guess you can watch me practice sometimes?" Mari said.

"Can I?" Noya asked gleefully. Mari nervously chewed her bottom lip, she had blurted out something again without thinking. Noya looked at he happily but his smile turned to a frown. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"I might have been a bit to forward with asking you to watch me," Mari admitted reluctantly, twirling a stay lock of hair between her fingers. "My captain doesn't allow people to watch, so you'd have to come to my house to watch…" she trailed off.

Noya's ears turned red at the thought. "I would love to watch you..." he started. "But something like that is only if you are comfortable."  
>Mari blinked confused. "Come again?"<p>

The gymnast placed her hands on his shoulders, standing before him and smiled. "Don't worry so much Nishinoya-kun, my parents own a gym. So we won't be the only people there. Unless you want to be alone," she teased. Noya's face turned a dark red and while he wanted to nod his head he shook it quickly. Mari nodded and smiled. "My brother could keep us company then if you ever come watch."

Noya nodded his head this time. "O-okay." he said. She let out a content sigh as they kept walking in a comfortable silence. Noya walked as well, trying to think of something that they could talk about.

"Well this is my street so I'll be going I guess," Mari said, interrupting his thoughts. She waved at him and started running with a little spurt. Noya quickly waved back and looked down a bit disappointed at her leaving so soon. With a small sigh he shoved his hands into his pocket and walked home. He didn't even get the chance to ask for her number.

* * *

><p><strong>It feels like a eternity since we last posted a chapter, we would like to apologize for the long wait but some things came up. But now we are here again and we are moving forward in the story, now they all have officially met. Things will start getting a lot more interesting from now on!<strong>

**We'd like to thank everyone one who reviewed, followed and faved our story in our absence. **

**- Grump and Dork. **


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